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Article: Around the galleries: there are several remarkable rarities on offer this month in London and New York, writes Susannah Woolmer, including Ethiopian manuscripts, poignant photographs of a vanished Africa--and a splendid cup to toast Trafalgar Day.
- Article from:
- Apollo
- Article date:
- October 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Apollo Magazine Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The Shahnama, or 'Book of Kings', was composed at the close of the tenth century by the Persian poet Firdausi, who was born in about 935. Hailed as a Persian equivalent to the Iliad and Odyssey, it is thought to be the longest poem ever written by a single author. A sixteenth-century illustrated Ottoman manuscript of the Shahnama, acquired by Sir Bernard Eckstein in 1935, is being offered for a six-figure sum by Sam Fogg (15d, Clifford Street, London, +44 [0] 20 7534 2100), where it will be on display from 11 until 28 October.
Recounting tales of Persian kings from the very beginning of civilisation through to the Arab conquest of the Sassanian empire in the ...